Episode 360 – The Light of the Heart Illuminates the World
>> When our great perfect mirror wisdom is clear and bright, our hearts confirm and are imprinted with True Dharma. Similarly, true Buddha-children are taught and their minds are imprinted with Buddha’s teachings. They reflect the ultimate reality of all things.
>> So, “My body is adorned with marks. I brilliantly illuminate the world. Honored by the boundless assembly, I speak of the seal of ultimate reality”
>> He brilliantly illuminated the world: The luminous light from within us can penetrate all things. It has two uses. First, to break through the darkness. Second, to reveal the Dharma. The light of the Buddha is the appearance of His wisdom.
>> Honored by the boundless assembly: Because of His virtue and great realizations, the Buddha’s body is pure and bright and. His light is auspicious and magnificent. Sentient beings respect Him with body and mind.
>> I speak of the seal of ultimate reality: The seal of ultimate reality is imprinted as the Buddha’s original vow and taught to enable all sentient beings to become like Him in all respects and to realize what they did not know before, which is the perfect Great Vehicle wisdom.
When our great perfect mirror wisdom is clear and bright,
our hearts confirm and are imprinted with True Dharma.
Similarly, true Buddha-children are taught and their minds are imprinted with Buddha’s teachings.
They reflect the ultimate reality of all things.
We humans live on this planet in the universe. This world is so vast! Human beings are so tiny! In our tiny little lives, simply because of greedy, angry and ignorant thoughts, we disrupt the harmony of the world and the balanced workings of our natural climate. Thus, the four elements are out of balance and manmade calamities constantly arise.
The Buddha taught us simply because He wants us to rein in our afflictions, to minimize them. If we can continuously minimize them, eventually we can completely eliminate them. Then we will have “great perfect mirror wisdom.”
Our mind is like a big round mirror. If we can clean it thoroughly, then the conditions before us will be reflected in our hearts and we will clearly discern “right” from “wrong.” If there is dust or dirt on the big round mirror, then the reflected image in that mirror will appear blurry and out of focus. It looks similar to the object, but also not, like being unable to discern right from wrong. Under these ambiguous circumstances, how can we move ahead steadily?
Sometimes at traffic intersections, we see a [convex] mirror. If that mirror is clear, we can see cars coming from all directions and will know to stop and allow other cars to pass. Then naturally we can proceed safely. But if the mirror is blurry, we cannot really see anything at all. Are there cars coming from other directions? We do not know. If we keep driving and miss seeing a car coming, within a split second there may be a crash that can lead to a big disaster.
I recall an elementary school student whose parents worked far away so she was cared for by her grandmother. Her grandmother was a recycling Bodhisattva. Every day, she took her granddaughter to school. One day, they passed by an intersection where the mirror was blurry and they saw a car almost hit someone. This young girl was only in elementary school, but she told her grandmother, “Grandma, that mirror is very blurry!” Grandmother said, “You’re right, it is blurry. Tomorrow we will bring some cloths to wipe it clean.”
Beginning the very next day, the grandmother, aside from transporting the girl on her moped, also transported a bucket of water and a cloth. Every day, they stopped at this part in the road and quickly wiped the mirror clean. This happened because one person simply saw what needed to be done and did it. The grandmother was loving and the child wise. Since they were willing to do this work, the people who traveled on this stretch of road could be safe.
To keep the great perfect mirror wisdom clean, we must be willing to cleanse our minds every day. When we can clearly discern right from wrong, then, naturally, we will be willing to give. So, “Our great perfect mirror wisdom is clear and bright.” If we wipe clean the mirror in our minds daily, then “our hearts confirm and are imprinted with True Dharma.” Our hearts will always be imprinted with true teachings. When the Dharma is carved into our hearts, the Dharma will manifest in our actions. With the Dharma imprinted in our hearts, we understand that the greatest happiness comes from giving.
So, those whose minds are imprinted with the Buddha’s teachings are Buddha-children. Since the Buddha gave us these teachings and wants us to imprint them on our minds, we must accept them. When He teaches, we must accept and practice His teachings. If we can accept and practice them, then we are true Buddha-children.
So, [our minds] “reflect the ultimate reality of all things.” To see the ultimate reality of all things, we must be like that mirror in our daily living and clearly reflect all conditions. Then we will not lose our way and can safely travel in all directions without obstructions. This comes from mindfully accepting
the Buddha’s teachings. The Buddha tells us that in our lives of impermanence and hardship, [there are Four Noble Truths]. We have been discussing Small Vehicle Dharma because it is a fundamental teaching. The Buddha makes a point to tell everyone that life is impermanent, so we will realize that in our impermanent lives, we must seize the time that we have. The Buddha makes a point to tell us that life is full of suffering, so as to help us attain realizations. He tells us that the place where the Five Realms coexist is here. All realms, whether heaven, human, hell, hungry ghost or animal, coexist here, in the Saha World.
For example, at this time (November, 2012), on the east coast of the United States, New York, New Jersey, Long Island, Washington DC, and so on, places that I have been mentioning, there is great devastation. The sight is truly unbearable.
[Disaster struck] four, five days ago in the greater New York area, the financial center of the world. Traveling up the coast, Hurricane Sandy approached, then landed. Within moments, everything was destroyed. This place was heaven on earth. It was the center of finance and trade. People there lived a comfortable and affluent life with very few hardships and obstacles. They did not realize that a hurricane which was not strong but spanned a wide area, with [its effect on] the sea and with rain could cause a disaster of such magnitude.
After the disaster, everything was in ruins. There was no electricity, water, gas or fuel. We even saw images of places covered in water, stinking and rotten. People could not live there. Their clothes were wet; their belongings were soaked in water. [Their houses were] full of mud. Isn’t this Niraya (joyless) Hell? Everything was muddy and wet. There was no electricity, no water, and no way to clean up. Most of the victims were small families or young people living on their own. Young people now are not used to physical labor. Though they are young, they could only stare at the devastation. They had no idea where to start cleaning up. How could they move the heavy objects? If even they did not have the strength, what about the elderly?
It seems that people in modern society have lost the survival skills that people of the past used to have. They are only trained to use their brains, to move their fingers on the keyboard. Many lack any other kinds of strength. Look at them. Their daily living came to a complete halt; their routine has been disrupted. Such suffering!
But even under these circumstances, some people lit candles so they could see and prepare food. Could they make some hot soup for people? Could they find ways to make hot meals to satisfy people’s hunger? This was truly difficult. Without electricity, everything was dark, so they lit candles to do this work. These people are Bodhisattva-volunteers who are devoting themselves to helping others.
Those of us who are here must always be mindful because in this world we can confirm all teachings the Buddha has given, one by one. Using the information technology we have now, we can see and understand these things. This world is where the Five Realms coexist; besides suffering, emptiness and impermanence, the Three [Evil] Realms are part of this world. So, we must constantly heighten our vigilance and form aspirations. Forming aspirations begins with the mind. We must take action to help others in addition to helping ourselves. I hope we can all wipe the mirror in our minds so it is clear and bright. We must [allow] the Dharma to imprint our minds and manifest in our actions. So, we must be mindful.
Yesterday, we discussed how the Buddha said, “My body is adorned with marks.” The marks He referred to were the way the Threefold Truth combined to form the One Great Vehicle. The Threefold Truth is the truth of emptiness, of illusiveness and of the Middle Way.
When we clearly look at the world, do we see anything that lasts forever? No, just emptiness. We all eventually return to emptiness. The only thing we take with us is our karma. Therefore, we must clearly recognize the path that leads to and from this world. Thus we need light and the Dharma in our minds to clearly understand.
So, “My body is adorned with marks, I brilliantly illuminate the world. Honored by the boundless assembly, I speak of the seal of ultimate reality.”
This is the wisdom of the Buddha. He said that. He has already comprehended these principles. [In the midst of] emptiness and illusiveness, He remains in the truth of the Middle Way and makes use of the One Vehicle Dharma. This is how He illuminates the world with light. When sentient beings in darkness and ignorance are illuminated by His light, they can then reflect that light.
The sun is up there, shining down here. If something blocks the light from above, it will be dark here. The sun is up there, and if there is a mirror here that reflects its rays, then the darkness will be illuminated. So, the Buddha’s light, the light of His wisdom illuminates all sentient beings. As sentient beings, we Buddhist practitioners must wipe this mirror clean and receive this light so we can reflect it and let it pervade the world.
When the mirrors are all reflecting each other, won’t this world become very bright? This is the Buddha’s compassion and wisdom. Thus He is “honored by the boundless assembly.” Everyone in this world should respect Him since. He comes to this world for the one great cause to “speak of the seal of ultimate reality.” This is telling us that [teaching] ultimate reality is like carving a seal. Once the Buddha has carved a seal, we just need to stain it with ink and stamp it on a white piece of paper. Then whatever is carved on the seal becomes what is stamped on the paper. This is a form of confirmation.
Each teaching given by the Buddha, every word, must be carved in our minds. We must not deviate from the Buddha’s Dharma. He “speaks of the seal of ultimate reality,” so without deviation, we must transmit each word of the Dharma to other people. One seal can be stamped many times.
What is brilliant [illumination]? Let us further understand how. “He brilliantly illuminated the world. The luminous light from within us” can radiate from our hearts. We intrinsically possess the Buddha’s wisdom.
He brilliantly illuminated the world: The luminous light from within us can penetrate all things. It has two uses. First, to break through the darkness. Second, to reveal the Dharma. The light of the Buddha is the appearance of His wisdom.
I hope the light of the Buddha can illuminate our minds, so that we can also radiate this light. From our own nature of True Suchness we can “penetrate all things.” When our minds can radiate a penetrating light, principles around us become very clear. This is what light can do. A light that can penetrate all things comes from a mind that can truly exercise wisdom.
This light has two uses. The first is to break through the darkness. For instance, if we turn off the lights, we cannot see one another. By turning on the lights, we eliminate darkness. When light manifests, the scene we see will be very clear. The second is to reveal the Dharma. If we eliminate our ignorance, then the Dharma will manifest.
This is the light of the Buddha, the mark of His wisdom. So where is wisdom? We cannot see it. When the Buddha teaches the Dharma, He uses analogies, expressions, causes and conditions to describe it for us. “Oh, it’s like this. I understand.” Once we accept [His teaching], we can also attain the Buddha’s wisdom and the same brilliant illumination.
He is “honored by the boundless assembly” because of His virtues and great realizations. I frequently tell you what it means to have virtue. Virtue can only be attained through practice; it truly requires internal cultivation. When we do not cultivate our mind, the Dharma will not remain in it. Ordinary people let it constantly leak away.
Honored by the boundless assembly: Because of His virtue and great realizations, the Buddha’s body is pure and bright and. His light is auspicious and magnificent. Sentient beings respect Him with body and mind.
Because of His virtue and great realizations, His mind has reached a state of perfection, which means it abides in the Dharma. This is the Buddha’s virtue. He has attained great realizations,
so His “body is pure and bright and. His light is auspicious and magnificent.” Light can radiate from His mind. As I previously said, light comes from His pure wisdom and illuminates Him. It can also illuminate others. This is the physical appearance of one with great virtue and great realizations. His mind is already very tranquil and clear. The light emitted from this state is auspicious and magnificent. So, sentient beings respect Him in actions and thoughts.
The Buddha comes to this world to “speak of the seal of ultimate reality.” He hopes that the Dharma He teaches will be deeply imprinted in everyone’s minds. Therefore, the seal of ultimate reality “is imprinted as the Buddha’s original vows”; it is encompassed by the Buddha’s original vows. The seal of ultimate reality is His original vow.
I speak of the seal of ultimate reality: The seal of ultimate reality is imprinted as the Buddha’s original vow and taught to enable all sentient beings to become like Him in all respects and to realize what they did not know before, which is the perfect Great Vehicle wisdom.
I often say that the Dharma that the Buddha safeguards in His mind is this, the seal of ultimate reality. The Buddha’s original vow is to imprint this seal He attained onto everyone’s mind. This is the Buddha’s vow, “to enable sentient beings to become like Him in all respects.” So, I often say, “take the Buddha’s mind as our mind.” We must imprint His mind onto ours.
“[We] realize what we did not know before, which is the perfect Great Vehicle wisdom.” We must quickly awaken. In the past we did not know better and only sought to benefit ourselves, to liberate ourselves. Now we are different. After we have cleansed ourselves, we should devote ourselves to go among people. This is practicing the Six Paramitas and walking the Bodhisattva-path.
Everyone, as Buddhist practitioners, we must have minds like a sheet of white paper. Our spiritual state must be tranquil and pure; only then can this brilliance penetrate us. Once imprinted, this blank paper will become a priceless treasure. Dear Bodhisattvas, learning from the Buddha is learning the true Bodhisattva Way, and not just to be a Bodhisattva in name. Everyone, please always be mindful.